Trade Show Do and Don’t
After attending so many trade shows, there are always some things that I see bother me and there are some thing that are done right. To receive the best on your ROI I would suggest the following
1. When picking a booth location if you are looking for an inline booth, try to get a corner booth. This will give you two aisles to grab traffic from. Try not to get this in the corner of the convention hall. Most people tend not to walk to the corners in the show hall
2. Good give-away – the biggest buzz – the biggest bait. Just walk the show floor, be a good observer also a good listener. For every ten minutes or so usually you’ll hear “hey, where’d you get that!” one attendee to probably a complete stranger attendee. That’s the power of these give-away. Word of caution to the exhibitor -Give-away can be very costly, and if your give-away program is not well organized, you’ll see people walk in, you hand out your give-away, and they have no interest in your goods/products and just keep on walking. In this respect give-away can be very costly, while if used intelligently these can be a powerful weapon bringing attention to your products which can generally end in sales
3. Make sure and do preshow marketing. A great way is to do this is to send out e-mails or mailer. Invite attendees to your booth for a raffle and introduce your product. Let them know who you are.
4. Try to locate your booth near mass traffic areas, For Example most people think the extreme front of the convention hall is best, not show the best location is in the center of the show hall or the second row one back from the front. Most people get in the show hall and never stop at the first booth; they tend to get more into the convention hall and then begin to look around. Another great location is near the food area and or believes it or not the bath rooms.
5. In any type of booth whether an inline or an Island never sit in your booth at lease in a low chair. If you sit make sure you do not block any entrance path to your booth, for example an inline booth try to sit off to the side near the aisle. Try not to sit as much as possible standing gets more attention. To help with this try to use double padding on your booth. This can make a world of difference on your sales force backs and feet
6. Video can be a big mistake if done incorrectly. Try not showing too many. Keep your videos short and flashy. Make it last about 30 second, more like commercial and not a movie. No one will stop to watch a whole movie. Make sure the video is on a 30 second loop or shorter.
Filed under: Marketing